Joyce Beber, advertising executive, dies at 80

MIAMI — Joyce Beber, who co-founded and ran the nationally known Beber Silverstein Advertising agency for decades, died Friday from complications of leukemia.

Mrs. Beber, of Miami, was 80.

At her ad agency, she oversaw successful campaigns to pitch products and companies such as Humana hospitals and insurance company, Palm Beach County tourism, Florida Power & Light Co., Miami Metro Zoo and Doral Golf Resort.

One of her best known national accounts was Helmsley Hotels. Mrs. Beber famously persuaded Leona Helmsley to call herself "the Queen" of the Palace Hotel when she noticed Helmsley's "hyper-obsessive attention to detail," said her daughter, Jennifer Beber.

The first ads showed a smiling Helmsley proclaiming that she wouldn't settle for things like skimpy towels, so "why should you?"

Occupancy at Helmsley hotels jumped from 25 percent to 87 percent.

But the agency wasn't Mrs. Beber's first love.

"Her family came first," said Jennifer Beber, who succeeded her mother as head of the agency. "She was a working mom and there was no meeting she could be in where she wouldn't take a call from one of her kids.

"She managed to juggle and make it seem effortless."

Joyce Sacks Beber was born on Nov. 20, 1929, in New York City. She earned her bachelor's degree in English from Purdue University and her master's degree in journalism from Columbia University.

Despite her degrees, she had no plans to start a career. But one day in 1971, when her two daughters were in elementary school, she went with a friend to a speech about women's rights given by feminist Gloria Steinem. Mrs. Beber told the friend, a lobbyist: "I'm so glad this is happening for my daughters."

Her friend shot back: "But don't you want a piece of the pie?"

With free time on her hands, she was inspired that "women can do more," Jennifer Beber said.

Determined to start her own business, she got hands-on training from a cousin in Philadelphia who owned an advertising agency. In 1972, with her friend Elaine Silverstein, she created Beber Silverstein Advertising in Miami. They shared a desk and their first account was The American Jewish Committee. Silverstein is still involved in the business.

"She loved words, she loved creative people, she was somebody who was truly interested in people," Jennifer Beber said of her mother. "She noticed all the details about people and she would remember them."

The story of the Helmsley hotels campaign took an unexpected twist when Helmsley was convicted of income tax evasion in 1989. She served time in prison.

"She said it was my mom's fault she went to jail because it made her famous," Jennifer Beber said. But after her prison stint, Helmsley rehired Beber Silverstein for a comeback campaign.

The new slogan: "Say what you will, she runs a helluva hotel." It was also a success.

"They had a complicated relationship," Jennifer Beber said.

In 1988, Jennifer Beber joined the business and eventually became its president.

Mrs. Beber had a stroke in 2003 and gradually retired from the agency.

In addition to her daughter Jennifer, of Miami, Mrs. Beber is survived by her husband, Dr. Charles Beber, former president of the American Geriatrics Society. He was medical director of the Miami Jewish Home and Hospital for the Aged at Douglas Gardens for more than 30 years.

She is also survived by daughter Neena Beber, of New York, a playwright who wrote for shows on Nickelodeon and on MTV's animated series "Daria" that ran from 1997 to 2002. Mrs. Beber also leaves four grandchildren.